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Infrastructure for Business: Flying into the future

The fourth paper in the IoD’s Infrastructure for Business series examines the case for more airport capacity.

With two-thirds of IoD members saying direct flights to high-growth markets are important to their businesses, it is vital the UK remains well connected.

Aviation provides significant benefits to the economy, and as the high growth markets continue to power ahead, flying will become even more important.
nearly two thirds of IoD members think that direct flights to the high growth countries will be important to their own business over the next decade.
l Aviation is bad for the global and local environment, but quieter and cleaner aircraft and improved operational and ground procedures can allow aviation to
grow in a sustainable way.

The UK faces four related crunches – hub capacity now; overall capacity in the South East by 2030; excessive taxation; and an unwelcoming visa and border
set-up – reducing the UK’s connectivity and making it more difficult and more expensive to get here.

This report sets out a holistic aviation plan, with 25 recommendations to address six key areas:

Making the best use of existing capacity in the short term;

Making decisions about where new runways should be built as soon as possible, so they can open in the medium term;

Ensuring good surface access and integration with the wider transport network, in particular planning rail services together with airport capacity, not separately;